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How sustainable a scientifically developing country could be in its specialties? The case of Iran’s publications in SCI in the 21st century compared to 1980s

Author

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  • Hajar Sotudeh

    (Shiraz University)

Abstract

Investigating Iran’s scientific proficiency reflected in its scholarly outputs indexed in SCI during the 21st century and 1980s, the present study tries to propose the use of three features of science production including Specialty Diversity, Specialty Stability, and the growth of publications in the specialties, as the primary criteria in evaluating the contribution sustainability of a science system at macro level. They can be seen as the prerequisites every science system should realize to ensure a sustainable movement towards scientific development. The results reveal that Iran’s contributions had been not only limited in number in 1980s, but also exposed to serious subject fluctuations, so that a scarce number of the fields were found to be stable regarding Iranian contributions. Moreover, none of them had experienced a significant, exponential positive growth during the decade. The situation is incomparable to the 21st century where Iran’s contributions were as diversified as almost all of the SCI subject categories. It also reached long- or short-term stability in a majority of the categories. None of the previously stabilized specialties collapsed in the second 6-year sub-period. On the other hand, previously fluctuating fields mostly stabilized later. Moreover, a majority of the fields experienced significant exponential growths. Overall, according to the results, a developing science system might be characterized by its Specialty Diversity and Stability, as well as an annual growth in its publications in the specialties. Though meeting the criteria does not necessarily guarantee the achievement of quality standards, it may enhance the visibility of the contributions and thereby their recognition.

Suggested Citation

  • Hajar Sotudeh, 2012. "How sustainable a scientifically developing country could be in its specialties? The case of Iran’s publications in SCI in the 21st century compared to 1980s," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(1), pages 231-243, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:91:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0542-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0542-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Morteza Mehrdad & Akbar Heydari & Mohammad Nabi Sarbolouki & Shapour Etemad, 2004. "Basic science in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 61(1), pages 79-80, September.
    2. Hajar Sotudeh, 2010. "Are Iranian scientists recognized as their productivity enhances? A comparison of Iran’s impact to global norms in different subfields of Science Citation Index during 2002–2005," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 83(1), pages 39-54, April.
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    5. Zouhayr Hayati & Saeideh Ebrahimy, 2009. "Correlation between quality and quantity in scientific production: A case study of Iranian organizations from 1997 to 2006," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(3), pages 625-636, September.
    6. Katz, J. Sylvan, 1999. "The self-similar science system1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 501-517, June.
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    Cited by:

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